Every year, more than 4,000 Albertans die because of commercial tobacco use, while tens of thousands more Albertans have serious tobacco-related illnesses. Tobacco and tobacco-like products can cause lung, heart, fertility and other health problems.

If you want to cut down on your tobacco use but aren’t yet ready to quit:
• Lower the number of cigarettes or other tobacco products you use.
• Add more time between cigarettes or tobacco products.
• Smoke or use tobacco only during odd or even hours.
• Limit your smoking or using tobacco to certain places.
• Wait as late in the day as you can before use.

If you are ready to quit:
• Create a quit plan. AlbertaQuits.ca has a Tobacco Change Plan to help you quit.
• Make a list of reasons to quit smoking or using tobacco and reflect on them.
• Set a quit day. Think about when your quit date should be. Try within the next three weeks. Let someone close know you are making a quit attempt. Try to have your quit day when your stress levels are lowest.

Here are more resources to help you quit:
• AlbertaQuits.ca provides information and tools to prepare for your quit.
• Talk to a counsellor at the AlbertaQuits helpline (1-866-710-7848). Free for all Alberta residents, it's open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week.
• Register for QuitCore (albertaquits.ca), a free virtual or in-person group support program that provides Albertans (18+) with the tools and skills they need to quit using tobacco.
• Ask your doctor or other healthcare provider for one-to-one tobacco counselling.
• Sign up for AlbertaQuits by Text. It's a free, three-month text messaging program that delivers motivational messages, advice and tips to your cell to help you quit. Text the word ABQUITS to number 123456 to register.
• Get support 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Addiction Helpline, 1-866-332-2322, or Health Link at 811.
• Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist about medications that can help you quit.